Monday, August 18, 2014

La Quinta del Buitre

In 1984, Real Madrid's reserve team coached by Amancio Amaro won the Segunda Divisió. The club was ineligible for promotion because the Spanish league disallowed the reserve team from playing together with the senior team in the same division. Even before the team sealed the title, Spanish sport journalist Julio César Iglesias already nicknamed the five home grown players as "La Quinta del Buitre" (Vulture's Cohort) in an article he wrote for El Pais. "El Buitre" or "Vulture" was the nickname of Emilio Butragueño, the most charismatic player of the group. The other four members were Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vazquéz, Míchel, and Miguel Pardeza.Excpet for Michel, all members of the group would be promoted to the first team even before the publication of the article.

Manolo Sanchís and Martín Vazquéz were the first two to make their senior debut in November 4th, 1983. Manolo Sanchís even scored a goal that evening. He was the son of Manuel Sanchís Martínez who won a European Cup with Real Madrid in 1966. Three months later, it would be Butragueño's turn. He scored two goals and provided another for Real Madrid to come from 2-0 to win the game. A legend was born. Meanwhile, another future Real Madrid legend Hugo Sanchez joined the club in 1985 from Atletico Madrid. He would win 4 La Liga scoring titles or Pichichi trophies(he also won one with Atletico Madrid). He would coin the nickname "Quinta de los Machos"(The Macho Squadron or the Fifth Male) for the remaining veteran players, namely Francisco Buyo, Rafael Gordillo, Jose Antonio Camacho and Antonio Maceda on the team.

The group would win 5 consecutive La Liga titles and two UEFA Cups. Ironically, all five members of La Quinta del Buitre only
played once on the same field together. It was largely because Miguel Pardeza left Real Madrid for a loan spell and then a permanent move to Real Zaragoza in 1987. All five members of "La Quinta del Buitre" would represent Spain at the 1990 World Cup Finals in Italy.